Thursday, 27 September 2012

Century Iron Mines (TSE:FER) saw its shares rally Thursday, exceeding its 50-day average trading volume, a day after the company reported a maiden resource for its Hayot Lake iron deposit in Quebec.

Shares of the miner rose 5 per cent as of Thursday late morning, at $1.05. In the last month, its stock is up by almost 4 per cent.

The company called the resource report a "defining milestone" for the deposit, which is part of the Attikamagan iron project.

The Hayot Lake iron deposit is now estimated to contain an inferred mineral resource of 1.723 billion tonnes grading an average of 31.25 per cent total iron, at a cut-off grade of 20 per cent total iron.

“Only 18.5 kilometres from Schefferville; the Hayot Lake iron deposit is well located in the Labrador Trough iron ore mining camp,” said president and CEO Sandy Chim on Wednesday.

“Schefferville is where the existing operating rail infrastructure begins connecting to the Port of Sept Iles, where the Port Authority and a number of miners are expanding the capacity of the port by 50 million tonnes per annum.

“Having close to 2 billion tonnes of iron ore in resources at Hayot Lake is a defining milestone laying the solid foundation to expand from our initial Joyce Lake mining plan targeting production in 2015.”

The Attikamagen iron project includes one group of claims straddling the boundary between the provinces of Quebec, Newfoundland and Labrador.

The property includes 405 designated cells located in Québec - Hayot Lake - and 617 claims located in Labrador and Newfoundland - Joyce Lake - covering an aggregated area of around 34,348 hectares.

A winter drilling program at Century's Attikamagen project in Quebec last year targeted direct shipping ore (DSO) potential at Joyce Lake, and taconite potential at Hayot Lake.

DSO mines are typically rarer than the magnetite-bearing banded iron formations, but are considerably cheaper to mine and process as they require less beneficiation due to the higher iron content. Export-grade DSO ores are generally in the 62 to 64 percent iron range.

Taconite, on the other hand, has been mined in North America for a number of decades as its constancy of ore characteristics on a very large scale has been an important source of iron supply for the US steel market for many years.

The finer grain size of taconite requires less energy costs for grinding compared with other coarser grain iron ores, and is used for making iron ore pellets - demand for which is expected to grow faster than any other iron product in the seaborne market.

Earlier this week, Century Iron unveiled recent drilling results from its Joyce Lake DSO prospect at the Attikamagan project. The iron ore miner said the first batch of assay results confirmed a zone of high grade iron mineralization at Joyce Lake, with intercepts up to 54 metres over 60 per cent total iron and with an average of 6.09 per cent silica.

Assays are still pending for a remaining 45 holes, the company said, adding that following the receipt of all the results, an NI 43-101 compliant resource estimate will be initiated - with a completion target set for year-end.

Century Iron Mines is Canada's largest holder of iron ore land claims and it is backed by two Chinese strategic partners through financing and off-take agreements: MinMetals and WISCO International Resources, a unit of Wuhan Iron & Steel, also known as China's third-largest steel producer.

Vancouver-based SilverCrest Mines (CVE:SVL)(NYSE MKT:SVLC)(AMEX:SVLC) unveiled Thursday results from 15 more drill holes and from surface sampling at its La Joya property in Durango, Mexico, which the company says continue to support a large tonnage silver deposit model.

"Since announcing the Inferred Resource of more than 100 million ounces Ag Eq. at La Joya, we have completed an additional 64 core holes in the expanded Phase II program of 70 core and 20 RVC holes," said president J. Scott Drever.

"The drill results continue to support our large tonnage silver deposit model and the extensive surface sampling in conjunction with certain drill holes support the concept of a potentially higher grade, open pit concept.

"The remaining drill holes will be directed to establishing additional resources and a basis for a conceptual open pit evaluation."

SilverCrest said that based on the current geologic model, drilling and sampling from the phase I and II programs, "it is reasonable that the recently discovered mineralized systems could potentially result in a 50 to 100 per cent increase in current inferred mineral resources."

Indeed, the phase II drill campaign was expanded by 10 holes for a total of 90, or 20,000 metres, with drilling so far having extended the main mineralized trend beyond the area containing the current inferred resource of 101.9 million silver equivalent ounces, SilverCrest said.

New drill roads exposed high grade surface mineralization, the miner said, with silver equivalent values in this series of core holes and surface channel samples ranging from 11.0 grams per tonne (g/t) to 200.3 g/t, with intervals from 8.9 to 305 metres.

The company said drilling and surface sampling showed a distinct zone of metals, both vertically and laterally, that has created a silver, gold and copper zone along the main portion of the main trend, and a near-surface tungsten, copper and gold zone on the southwest portion.

Five of the 15 drill holes reported today tested the southern extension of the trend, while 10 focused on the delineation of the Contact zone - which is considered a potential large, bulk tonnage tungsten target - and on the new Santo Nino discovery. Notable results included 157 metres at 94.1 g/t silver equivalent in hole LJ DD12-65.

The company also said the surface channel sampling helped define the potential for a near-surface, higher grade silver-gold-copper mineralization in the central and southern areas of the trend, with up to 99 metres grading 187.6 g/t silver equivalent.

Channel sampling along new access roads in the Contact zone also showed tungsten mineralization up to 305 metres grading 0.063% tungsten, with anomalous grades of gold, copper and silver.

Drilling and surface sampling at La Joya has now extended the main trend to roughly 2.5 kilometres, the silver miner said, with an average width of around 700 metres.

Drilling continues on the southern extension of the main trend, and on the Contact zone, with three core rigs, while a reverse circulation drill is expected to be added next month.

Core drilling is anticipated to be wrapped up in October, with an updated resource to be announced in the fourth quarter.

SilverCrest is looking to examine the potential for a near-surface, higher grade, low-strip, open pit as a starter pit in the upcoming preliminary economic assessment report for the project, the company said, adding that metallurgical testwork is also underway.

The Mexican precious metals producer's flagship property is the 100 per cent-owned Santa Elena Mine in the State of Sonora, Mexico. The mine is a high-grade, epithermal gold and silver producer, with an estimated life of mine cash cost of US$8 per ounce of silver equivalent.

The company anticipates that the 2,500 tonnes per day facility should recover approximately 4,805,000 ounces of silver and 179,000 ounces of gold over the 6.5 year life of the open pit phase of the Santa Elena Mine. A three year expansion plan is underway to double metals production at the site.

Gold Resource Corporation (NYSE MKT: GORO) announced late Wednesday its monthly dividend for September of six cents per share.

The dividend is payable on October 23, to shareholders of record as of October 10.

The low-cost gold producer with operations in southern Mexico offers shareholders the option to convert their monthly cash dividends into physical gold or silver, and take delivery of the precious metals.

The mining company is focused on its six high grade gold and silver properties in Mexico's southern state of Oaxaca.

In August, the company said that second quarter gold equivalent production grew year-over-year despite lower than targeted mill output and slowed development at its high grade La Arista deposit in Mexico.

The gold producer, which yields gold from its El Aguila operations in the southern state of Oaxaca, Mexico, said gold equivalent production rose 8 per cent over the prior year quarter, to 14,488 ounces.

This number is still less than half of what Gold Resource Corp targeted for the quarter, which prompted the company in July to reduce its full year outlook for production in the range of 100,000 to 120,000 ounces.

This compares to its prior guidance for between 120,000 to 140,000 ounces of gold equivalent.

CEO Bill Reid noted on a conference call in August that achieving 100,000 ounces of output for the year would still represent a 50 per cent increase over last year's production.

For the three months that ended June 30, the company sold 17,211 ounces of gold equivalent, versus 13,097 ounces a year earlier. Average prices realized on sales during the latest period were higher for gold and lower for silver, at $1,631 per ounce gold and $27 per ounce silver, respectively.

Sales rose to $30 million, up from $20.7 million last year.

Gold Resource Corp, which initiated its physical gold and silver dividend program in April, paid $9.5 million to shareholders in dividends in the most recent period and converted $1.3 million of its treasury into gold and silver.

It also increased its cash position by $0.8 million from the first quarter, to $44.8 million.

TNR Gold Corp. (CVE:TNR) Thursday announced assay results from the second hole of the 2012 drilling program on the Shotgun Ridge gold project in Alaska.

Of note, drill hole SR12-57 returned 1.02 grams per tonne (g/t) gold over 209 metres averaging across the full length of the targeted porphyry system. Included within this interval is 1.53 g/t gold over 61.4 metres.

These results include several higher-grade intercepts that confirm the company’s model of mineralization where elevated gold values occur in repeating structural features through the Shotgun Ridge area.

"The positive results from this year’s drilling have significantly elevated the projects’ potential and is a major turning point in the exploration at Shotgun Ridge," Gary Schellenberg, TNR Gold's president and executive chairman said.

"A previous interpretation of the mineralization at Shotgun showed limited room for expansion. Confirmation of our new model greatly increases the size potential of Shotgun and opens up a number of new zones that will be tested next season."

John Harrop, TNR Gold's VP of Exploration added: "We are encouraged by the uniformity of gold grades across the reported intersections and that the averages are not supported by narrow, high grade intervals."

"The results build on the success of the 2011 geophysical surveys, and establish an exploration method that can locate buried targets at the Shotgun property. This is a key step in being able to apply geophysical results from 2012 to planning for the next season of exploration."

The Shotgun property which is located 175 kilometres south of Donlin Creek within the Kuskokwim Gold Belt in Southwestern Alaska. This area is emerging as a world-class gold district hosting more than 40 million ounces of aggregated gold resources.

The Shotgun property includes a number of prospects, including Shotgun Ridge and nearby Winchester. Donlin is an intrusion-associated system and represents one of the largest undeveloped gold deposits in the world. The Company believes that there are several key similarities between prospects in the Shotgun area and that of the Donlin Creek gold deposit as well as other intrusion-associated deposits.

Combined with SR12-56 - which contained a 242 metre interval with 1.25 g/t gold - the gold mineralization model at Shotgun Ridge is confirmed along strike and down dip. Drill hole SR12-57 ended in mineralization at a down hole depth of 300 metres (approximately 150 metres below the topographic surface).

Diamond drill hole SR12-57 was drilled at the same orientation as SR06-43, approximately 35 metres to the southwest (SR06-43 was previously reported to contain 210 metres averaging 1.3 g/t gold).

SR12-57 was one of three drill holes drilled in 2012 to test continuation of the mineralized zones encountered in 06-43 along strike and to depth. 12-57 is the first drill hole in a fence below 06-43 and together enhances the company’s understanding of the controls on gold mineralization at Shotgun Ridge.

Three zones are identified by more intense brecciation and increased gold grades within the porphyritic intrusive and correlate well between all 2012 drill holes, TNR Gold said.

These new results, combined with those previously released for SR12-56, significantly reinforce confidence in the specific orientation of the higher-grade southwest dipping mineralized zones and provide a basis for future drill targeting.

The strongest mineralization encountered in hole SR12-57 is coincident with interpreted geophysical anomalies. The hole, drilled at a 45 degree angle down the side of the ridge, ended in mineralization at a down hole depth of 300 metres which is approximately 150 metres below the topographic surface.

TNR Gold believes that the new drill results confirm the orientation of these key structures and the correlation with geophysical anomalies provide a clear targeting method for continued drill programs and future resource delineation.

TNR Gold is a mineral exploration company actively pursuing a portfolio of gold, copper, and Rare Earth Element properties worldwide.

Its primary focus is in exploration and development of key ventures which are the Shotgun gold project in Alaska, TNR iron ore and REE projects in Soules Bay, Canada and the ongoing project generator in Argentina.

New Zealand Energy Corp. (CVE:NZ)(OTCQX:NZERF) says it has started the completion of its fifth well in the Taranaki Basin of New Zealand, achieving the targeted depth of Waitapu-1.

The company said Thursday it has evaluated open hole logs of the well, and has started casing, with completion to follow.

Waitapu-1 was drilled through the Urenui formation into the Mt. Messenger formation with a measured depth of 2,213 metres and true vertical depth of 1,925 metres, the New Zealand-focused oil and gas producer said.

The company plans to perforate and test the Mt. Messenger formation. Following perforation, the rig will be repositioned on the same drill pad to finish drilling Waitapu-2, which has been drilled and cased to 300 metres using a smaller rig.

The newly-established Waitapu site, which includes the Waihapa Production Station, sits approximately 1.3 kilometres south of the company's Copper Moki site in the Taranaki Basin, where it has three producing wells.

The prime location of the Waihapa production station reduces transportation and processing costs for the company's oil and gas production. Waihapa is the only open-access midstream facility in the Taranaki Basin, and gives New Zealand additional opportunities for processing third-party gas, liquids, oil and water.

The company's property portfolio covers nearly two million acres of conventional and unconventional prospects in the Taranaki Basin and East Coast Basin of New Zealand’s North Island.

A large chunk of the company's properties are located at Taranaki, which is situated on the west coast of the North Island and is currently its only oil and gas producing basin, producing roughly 130,000 barrels of oil per day from 18 fields.

Its Copper Moki-3 well flowed 7,456 barrels and 4,765 thousand cubic feet of natural gas during production testing in the second quarter, and began continuous production on July 2.

The company generated positive cash flow from production in the second quarter of $5.4 million, resulting from netbacks of U.S. $78.12 per barrel. Its aim is to drill eight additional conventional wells and increase production to 3,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day by year-end 2012.

Century Iron Mines Corp. (TSE:FER) said Wednesday it has wrapped-up the formation of the joint venture with Wisco International Resources Development & Investment relating to the Attikamagen project.

The joint venture was structured as a shareholders' deal where Wisco Attikamagen will now invest $40 million for a 40 per cent stake in Labec Century, a unit of Century.

Wisco International also completed an initial $20 million investment in the joint venture and now as a result is a shareholder of Labec Century.

Representatives of Wisco International have been appointed to Labec Century's board, while management of Labec will be carried out by both Century and Wisco International.

Century said proceeds from Wisco International's equity investment will be used to partly cover exploration costs incurred, and to advance the Attikamagen project with Champion Iron Mines (TSE:CHM).

"We have achieved a significant milestone in the development of Century's business with the assistance of our strategic partner, Wisco International," chief executive Sandy Chim said in a statement.

"Today's formation of the joint venture and the $20 million investment by Wisco International is a continued demonstration of Wisco's support for Century's iron ore projects and its business strategy."

Century Iron Mines is Canada's largest holder of iron ore land claims in a public company, with interests in several properties in the Provinces of Quebec and Newfoundland & Labrador.

The Attikamagen Iron project includes claims straddling the boundary between the provinces of Quebec and Newfoundland and Labrador.

The property is located 20 kilometres northeast of Schefferville, Québec. It includes about 405 cells and 617 claims in Labrador.

Century's stock rose 1.82 per cent to hit $1.12 each on the Toronto Stock Exchange

Wednesday, 26 September 2012

Century Iron Mines Corp. (TSE:FER) late Tuesday released the initial mineral resource statement for its Hayot Lake iron deposit located in Quebec on the Attikamagan iron project, calling it a “defining milestone”.

The company said that the Hayot Lake iron deposit is estimated to contain an inferred mineral resource of 1.723 billion tonnes grading an average of 31.25 per cent total iron, at a cut-off grade of 20 per cent total iron.

Century Iron said that the mineral resource model was constructed using drilling data acquired in 2011 and 2012.

“Only 18.5 kilometres from Schefferville; the Hayot Lake iron deposit is well located in the Labrador Trough iron ore mining camp,” said president and Century's CEO Sandy Chim.

“Schefferville is where the existing operating rail infrastructure begins connecting to the Port of Sept Iles, where the Port Authority and a number of miners are expanding the capacity of the port by 50 million tonnes per annum.

“Having close to 2 billion tonnes of iron ore in resources at Hayot Lake is a defining milestone laying the solid foundation to expand from our initial Joyce Lake mining plan targeting production in 2015.”

The Attikamagen iron project includes one group of claims straddling the boundary between the provinces of Quebec, Newfoundland and Labrador.

The property includes 405 designated cells located in Québec - Hayot Lake, and 617 claims located in Labrador and Newfoundland (Joyce Lake), covering an aggregated area of approximately 34,348 hectares.

Chim said that the development of these projects will increase the value of the near term cash flow potential to achieve and enhance the company’s longer term high volume and high cash flow value proposition.

“Taconite mining is the backbone of the American iron ore industry for the last half a century presenting a development model of high volume consistent iron ore concentrate and pellet for the Trough in the face of a growing seaborne market.”

The Hayot Lake iron deposit is a large taconite iron deposit hosted in folded banded iron formations of the Proterozoic Sokoman Formation, the company said.

It added that the iron mineralization is stratabound and sedimentary in origin and occurs within a synclinal structure plunging shallowly to the southeast.

Century Iron Mines is Canada's largest holder of iron ore land claims and it is backed by two Chinese strategic partners through financing and off-take agreements: MinMetals and WISCO International Resources, a unit of Wuhan Iron & Steel, also known as China's third-largest steel producer.

The two massive Chinese conglomerates are ranked among the Forbes Global 500 and are two of China’s largest mining companies. In 2010, the WISCO group produced 36 million tonnes of crude steel, ranking as the fourth-largest steel mill in China and the fifth-largest in the world.

The iron ore miner said the first batch of assay results confirmed a zone of high grade iron mineralization at Joyce Lake, with intercepts up to 54 metres over 60 per cent total iron and with an average of 6.09 per cent silica.

Assays are pending for a remaining 45 holes, the company said, adding that following the receipt of all the results, an NI 43-101 compliant resource estimate will be initiated - with a completion target set for year-end.

"The upcoming closely-spaced drill program will enable us to optimize our initial pit design, and expand our established 956,800-ounce measured and indicated gold-silver resource."

"The extensive development of the gold-silver bearing stockwork system in this region of the property, makes this an ideal target location to pursue the initial pilot phase of our planned, multi-phase commercial development of the Moss gold-silver resource."

The upcoming drill program on Moss is expected to allow Northern Vertex to construct a mine plan and mine design as required by an Aquifer Protection Permit.

On September 10, the company announced an updated mineral resource estimate that was prepared by Scott E. Wilson Consulting.

The company said the updated 956,800 ounce gold-equivalent resource at Moss, classified as measured and indicated, comprises over 30.8 million tonnes having an average gold grade of 0.79 g/t, and an average silver grade of 8.90 g/t.

An additional inferred gold-equivalent resource of 199,100 ounces comprises of 7.09 million tonnes having an average gold grade of 0.71 g/t and an average silver grade of 8.13 g/t.

Northern Vertex can earn a 70 per cent stake in the Moss gold-silver acreage, which is found in Mohave County, from Patriot Gold Corp.

Tuesday, 25 September 2012

Celeste Copper Corp (CVE:C) said Tuesday that it plans to divest its remaining Chilean claims to focus on the development of its South Crofty mine in Cornwall, UK.

The tin and copper miner, as it realizes its main focus on its UK operations, is planning to rid itself of the claims in Chile either on a joint venture basis, or through an outright sale.

The Celeste IV to X claims in Chile are located 70 kilometres southeast of Copiapo, Chile. They cover mining concessions totaling an area of 24 square kilometres.

The Candeleria IOCG deposit, with reported reserves of roughly 400 million tonnes, is located around 40 km from the property on the other side of the Cabeza De Vaca intrusion, Celeste said.

The miner noted in its statement Tuesday that interested parties should contact Celeste directly.

The Chilean property is a "non material component" of the company, Celeste said, with nearly 100 per cent of management time and efforts being spent on its South Crofty, England property.

Shares of Celeste Copper moved higher by 10 per cent to 5.5 cents on the TSX Venture Exchange shortly after the announcement this afternoon.

As divulged earlier this month, the company will shortly be filing the updated NI 43-101 compliant estimate for the Dolcoath section of the South Crofty project.

The estimate holds an inferred resource of 2.47 million tonnes grading 0.46 per cent tin, 0.54 per cent copper and 0.23 per cent zinc.

The property is also projected to hold an exploration target of between 6.7 and 13.5 million tonnes with grades ranging between 1.4 and 1.8 per cent tin in an area east of the Great Crosscourse within the South Crofty mine.

In addition, there is another exploration target estimated of between 1.25 and 2.5 million tonnes with grades ranging between 1.25 and 1.6 per cent tin in the Dolcoath deep and Roskear areas of the property.

The estimate, prepared by Micromine Consulting Services, includes all project exploration drill hole and channel sampling data from work completed from 2008 to February 2012.

ViewTrade Securities has started coverage on Pressure Biociences (OTCQB:PBIO) with a "Speculative Buy" rating and $1.12 price target.

Pressure BioSciences is a life science, medical device company that developments and commercializes pressure cycling technology (PCT).

PCT technology uses instrumentation that cycles pressure between ambient and ultra-high levels at controlled temperatures to control the interactions of bio-molecules.

PBIO's technology is used genomic, proteomic, and small molecule sample preparation as well.

"A highlight to the Pressure BioSciences' story is its aggressive commercialization effort that management had begun earlier this year," ViewTrade's director of research Peter J. D'Agostino said in a note.

"Management has been successful in beginning to create a global brand, which is reflected by the sharp increase in its number of international distribution agreements. This, coupled with PBIO's string of new product offerings and expansion of current technology should pave the way to the company's profitability."

In a research note, the brokerage said that PBIO has a broad customer base. There are currently 140 customers who have purchased or leased the PCT platform.

In early 2012, PBIO began its commercialization initiative of these instruments and has gained traction, which is reflected in PBIOʼs product revenue growth yearover-year and sequentially.

"In our opinion, PBIO is poised for substantial growth with the aggressive commercialization of its Barocycler product portfolio, new offerings in its pipeline and promising new markets for its existing technology," ViewTrade's D'Agostino said.

"We model profitability in 2014 as the company increases its market share."

"We expect more product offerings to be rolled out in 2013 and pushed through the channel quicker. We expect operating expenses to begin to level off during 2H:13, resulting in profitability during 2H:13."

The brokerage was "impressed with managementʼs success" in significantly expanding PBIOʼs distributor base and forming strategic agreements with larger partners while planning to roll out new products in 2013 and 2014.

"As far we know, PBIO is the only company with PCT technology and available products," ViewTrade's D'Agostino concluded.

"Thus, we are confident that as the company continues its commercialization it will gain significant medical acceptance, allowing PBIO to grow market share.

"At this time, we urge investors to view PBIO as a revenue growth story and as a buy and hold stock."

Investor site AheadoftheHerd.com suggests that it's time to turn your attention to Kootenay Gold Inc. (CVE:KTN) if you believe in the adage "mines are made, not discovered".

Drawing from the experience of its management team, led by chief executive and chief geologist James McDonald, Kootenay is applying the same pragmatic approach to its flagship Promontorio Silver Project in Sonora Mexico, that has helped companies McDonald has been associated with, such as Alamos Gold (TSE:AGI), turn into accomplished producers.

Since first acquiring the historic past producer in 2005, Kootenay has taken no shortcuts in its quest to systematically exploit the vast silver resources believed to exist within Promontorio’s 79,000 hectare borders.

Based on its success to date and the projects maturing status, the company’s comprehensive approach appears to be paying off, Rick Mills of the AheadoftheHerd.com newsletter said.

Kootenay Silver's strategy has been to build a company incorporating both the property ownership dilution business model and share dilution model.

They have several projects joint ventured with other junior explorers who pay costs for exploration and issue shares in their company while Kootenay has retained 100 per cent ownership of their flagship Mexican property,the advanced stage Promontorio silver project.

A 43-101 Resource Estimate released in August of 2010 shows the Promontorio Silver Project contained indicated and inferred resources of over 10 million ounces of silver along with substantial amounts of lead and zinc. The overall contained metal values at Promontorio were estimated at $320 million.

Since August 2012, Kootenay Silver put out two significant news releases, the first was in regards to an updated resource estimate – resources have gone from an in ground value of $320 million to over two billion dollars using today’s silver price.

In two short years KTH has increased shareholder value by a factor of over six times while keeping the share count at a very respectable 59.5 million fully diluted.

The open pit mineral resources for the Promontorio Project are 36,018,000 tonnes grading an average of 51.35 grams per tonne (g/t) silver equivalent classified as Measured and Indicated Mineral Resources, with an additional 9,136,000 tonnes grading an average of 42.86 g/t silver equivalent classified as Inferred Mineral Resources.

The iron ore miner said the first batch of assay results confirmed a zone of high grade iron mineralization at Joyce Lake, with intercepts up to 54 metres over 60% total iron (TFe%) and with an average of 6.09% silica (SiO2).

Assays are pending for a remaining 45 holes, the company said, adding that following the receipt of all the results, an NI 43-101 compliant resource estimate will be initiated - with a completion target set for year-end.

Following the discovery of DSO type mineralization during Century's drill campaign at Joyce Lake last year, an exploration and definition drilling program was started in February to expand the zone of high grade iron mineralization.

As of earlier this month, more than 7,800 metres of reverse circulation drilling were completed.

Direct shipping ore refers to iron ore that can be shipped directly to a steel furnace.

DSO mines are typically rarer than the magnetite-bearing banded iron formations, but are considerably cheaper to mine and process as they require less beneficiation due to the higher iron content. Export-grade DSO ores are generally in the 62 to 64 percent iron range.

Century said the higher grade mineralization at its Joyce Lake prospect occurs mostly within a "synclinal fold closure" and partly on both flanks. The synclinal structure has a shallow 15 degree plunge to the southeast, the miner said, adding that the mineralization reaches bedrock surface covered by 3 to 6 metres of overburden.

"I am very pleased with the positive results of our Joyce Lake exploration program," said Century's president and CEO, Sandy Chim.

"They continue to demonstrate the thickness and high grade consistency for a potential DSO deposit and operation.

"The completion of the recent bulk sampling exercise will add more confidence to Joyce Lake. It is reassuring to move each step of the way successfully on our fast track program toward the possibility of delivering production within a near term window."

Indeed, the company said it expects preparation for a preliminary economic assessment to begin immediately after the resource estimate in early 2013.

Notable holes from the latest results at Joyce Lake include 42 metres of 48.25% total iron, including 12 metres of 61.13% total iron in hole JOY-12-46. Hole JOY-12-55 also hit 15 metres of 64.56% total iron.

In addition to the drill results, the company has also shipped a 30-tonne bulk sample, collected from trenches in different sectors of the mineralized zone, for processing to SGS Canada. The bulk sample will be tested for grinding, recovery tests and mineralogy.

The Attikamagen iron project includes one group of claims straddling the boundary between the provinces of Quebec and Newfoundland and Labrador.

The property includes 405 designated cells located in Quebec, known as Hayot Lake, where the company is targeting taconite potential, and 617 claims located in Labrador and Newfoundland, known as Joyce Lake.

Joyce Lake covers a total area of around 34,348 hectares. The property is located around 20 kilometres northeast of Schefferville, Quebec.

Century Iron Mines is Canada's largest holder of iron ore land claims and it is backed by two Chinese strategic partners through financing and off-take agreements: MinMetals and WISCO International Resources, a unit of Wuhan Iron & Steel, also known as China's third-largest steel producer.

Support from these two massive Chinese conglomerates, which are ranked among the Forbes Global 500 and are two of China’s largest mining companies, must mean Century Iron has the goods to back itself up. In 2010, the WISCO group produced 36 million tonnes of crude steel, ranking as the fourth-largest steel mill in China and the fifth-largest in the world.

Last week, Century Iron reported recent drill results from its Full Moon prospect on the Rainy Lake area of its Sunny Lake iron ore project in Quebec, showing "substantial resource tonnage" support.

Jay A. Collins, a professional engineer, has just over 30 years of engineering and construction experience in mining projects. He brings a wide-range of management and leadership expertise both in the field and during pre-development of projects globally.

Currently, he is the president of Merit Consultants International, a construction management and project company to the mining sector.

Prior to re-joining Merit in the late 90's, Collins held senior roles for project development with Fluor, SNC, Teck and Pullman Kellog in the petrochemical industry.

The second appointee, Mark Lettes, served as chief financial officer for Apex Silver Mines from 1998 to June 2006, and has extensive knowledge in mine finance.

While at Apex, he was responsible for financing the large-scale Bolivian San Cristobal silver and zinc mine.

Prior to Apex Silver, Lettes held senior financial roles with Cyprus Amax, Amax and Amax Gold. Now, he is a director for General Moly Inc. (AMEX:GMO), a mineral resource company.

Lettes has also served as a director of Yukon Zinc Corp and Century Mining Corp.

"Their experience in the mining industry and project financing will provide valuable insight as the company advances its core mine development projects," Selwyn chief executive Harlan Mead said in a statement.

The company is also advancing the ScoZinc mine project in Nova Scotia. Last month, the company updated its mineral resource estimate for the Gays River deposit at the ScoZinc mine, increasing measured resources by 55 per cent.

The Gays River deposit includes the main and northeast zones of the ScoZinc mine, a past producing zinc-lead mine, which the company acquired for $10 million in 2011.

Highlights from the updated estimate include an increase of 55 per cent to the base case measured mineral resources, now measured at 2.07 million tonnes grading 3.14 per cent zinc and 1.68 per cent lead.